PREFACE
The reader will find in the present volume for the first time the connected narrative of the history of Texas from 1519 to 1694. Incidents and events heretofore considered to have little or no relation with the subsequent history of the State are presented in a new light, as revealed by unused sources. The reader will find, for example, that Cortes, the Conqueror of Mexico, seriously contemplated and actually attempted to occupy the mouth of the Rio Grande; that Nufio de Guzman, long asso- ciated with the cruel conquest of Nueva Galicia, was in fact royal governor of Texas; that Coronado found his Quivira in the area of the Texas Panhandle; that the survivors of De Soto's expedition wandered over a large portion of Texas, going as far west perhaps as the upper waters of the Brazos and the Colorado; and that the western limits of the State were repeatedly crossed between El Paso and present Eagle Pass before 1689. The traditional eight or ten expeditions into Texas up to 1731 have been enlarged to ninety-two, and the list of missions expanded from an equal number to more than fifty. One of the most remarkable episodes in the history of the State is the chapter on the Dominican Martyrs, given in this volume for the first time. Unknown, until the present, a band of four Dominican Friars and a group of Spaniards were shipwrecked in 1553 on present Padre Island. After suffering incredible hardships, the entire group was annihilated; and only one Dominican Friar and one layman lived to tell the story. Nowhere in the annals of American history is a more impressive episode to be found. Of the four Dominicans, two died at the hands of the Indians within the present limits of the State. The facts presented in this volume further show that the establishment of missions in Texas was not the direct outcome of La Salle's furtive expedition; that regardless of the French incursion, the Spanish advance would have taken place; and that the only result of La Salle's unsuccessful attempt to colonize in Texas was the abrupt advance of the Spanish frontier from the Rio Grande to East Texas. This proved an unfortunate circumstance which prevented the normal and gradual extension of Spanish Missions from the Rio Grande into the plains and beyond to the timber lands. The beginnings of missionary activity are to be found
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